Europol’s Five-Euro Note Trail: How Old-School Cash Unraveled the Çopja Crypto Ring

Forget blockchain forensics—Europol just cracked a major crypto laundering ring with a tool straight out of a spy novel: the humble five-euro note.

The Paper Trail in a Digital World

While crypto enthusiasts tout untraceable transactions, law enforcement flipped the script. The Çopja group, operating across multiple European borders, thought mixing services and privacy coins would cloak their illicit gains. Europol's countermove? Tracing the physical cash used to fund the initial crypto purchases. Every serial number on those five-euro notes became a digital breadcrumb.

Connecting the Dots from Fiat to Fungible

Investigators followed the cash from traditional bank withdrawals to cryptocurrency exchanges. This old-school financial sleuthing mapped the entire operation—identifying key players, their digital wallets, and the complex web of transactions designed to obscure the money's origin. It was a masterclass in following the money, proving that the off-ramp from crypto to cash is often the weakest link.

A Reality Check for 'Anonymous' Crypto

This takedown is a stark reminder: true financial anonymity is a myth, whether you're using euros or Ethereum. For every complex tumbler, there's a simple point of failure—like using traceable cash to onboard. It's the financial equivalent of building a fortress but leaving the key under the mat. The operation highlights that regulatory scrutiny is evolving faster than evasion tactics, with agencies like the FSA increasingly focused on the fiat gateways. So much for decentralizing everything—sometimes, it all comes back to a central bank's paper.

The next time someone promises 'unhackable' or 'untraceable' digital cash, remember the Çopja group. Their ring wasn't broken by cracking encryption, but by following the very paper money they tried to leave behind. A sobering lesson that in finance, the oldest trails are often the hardest to erase.

Handwritten notes led to $35 million seizure

The Spanish Guardia Civil realized what they had. The notes mapped out how a global network was moving millions in drug money through a banking system that existed completely outside traditional finance.

Nadia Elbasani, who teaches on the subject, said: “International cooperation and keeping digital money in the spotlight is a necessary step to prevent this sector from being covered by the veil of money laundering and a dark sector. Cryptocurrency is not necessarily a dark sector.”

After finding those notes, Spanish police contacted Europol. Things snowballed from there. The network stretched to Dubai, the Netherlands, and Albania.

That’s when Albanian prosecutors from SPAK joined in. They started tracking digital transactions going through encrypted “wallets.” Each cryptocurrency transfer showed cocaine money being turned into property and businesses across Albania that looked clean on paper.

Lawyer Dritan Jahaj laid out what investigators have to prove. They need suspects to confirm wallet ownership, provide data, show actual transactions and income, and most importantly, identify where the initial cryptocurrency purchase money came from.

Crypto expert Dorian Kane talked about progress tracking these wallets: “So far there has been a very good result in tracking wallets that have made secret transactions, with the aim of hiding money or hiding their investments, which they have in cryptocurrencies. But, there is always a way that at some point in a moment the digital portfolio that is unidentified must be linked to the person.”

The operation cracked a hidden network where blockchain transactions washed criminal cash. Authorities seized over 35 million euros between Spain and Albania. Spain grabbed 25 million. Albanian prosecutors then seized another 10 million.

Albanian law enforcement faced something new here. No paper files. No regular bank records. Just blockchain code that needed cyber experts to trace.

Currency exchanges became the laundromat

Documents obtained by InsideStory show the Çopja criminal organization relied heavily on cryptocurrencies to wash illegal money.

Elbasani broke it down. Criminal groups have always laundered money through various sectors, but cryptocurrency created what looks like an easy way to clean cash. It’s not that simple, though. Licensed platforms outside Albania make it harder because they know their clients.

Former prosecutor Eugen Beci identified the main platforms involved – Binance and another exchange created in 2011 in the USA called Cragen. Those are where Albanian law enforcement focused their international cooperation efforts.

Investigators found Binance accounts supposedly controlled by Kujtim Kala and Izeir Loloci. Millions of dollars sitting there. These two allegedly worked with powerful figures running exchange businesses in Tirana.

SPAK brought in blockchain specialists. They found transactions running through the Tron/Tether network. Big amounts. The case files show 4 transactions: 105 thousand, 237 thousand, 978 thousand, and around 2 million dollars. All suspected drug money.

Elbasani pointed out the problem. When licensed platforms know who’s making transactions, laundering gets harder. But platforms without customer identification exist, and those create opportunities for criminal groups.

Kane explained how tracking works. IT experts look directly at the blockchain – where transactions come from, where they go, which exchanges hold the funds. But it takes serious experience, expertise, and advanced software.

Investigators focused on the gateways first. The exchanges. These platforms convert regular money into crypto instantly. That’s where dirty money starts looking legitimate.

Operators used local exchange shops to clean the flows, just like in cases worldwide. That’s how two people running foreign exchange businesses got caught up in this.

The setup was straightforward. Drug money went to foreign bank accounts. Got converted to Tether, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. Then, it is sent to digital wallets across a widespread user network.

Parts of the network were clear – Binance accounts, other accounts on “ALT 5 Sigma,” wallets between them handling big transactions.

Jahaj mentioned a critical issue. Prosecutors can seize suspected wallets, but they need to investigate and collect evidence for confiscation. Then there’s the Key problem.

One name kept appearing: SOLUTION SRL, a company registered in Milan, Italy. Just a front covering money flows.

Transaction records between October 23, 2024, and July 9, 2025, revealed something big. About $40 million in cryptocurrency purchases. That dwarfs the $10 million reported earlier. Money flowed from UK and Spanish bank accounts through a mess of digital transactions, bouncing between wallets before landing at addresses linked to organization members in Elbasan.

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